Koç Katımı and At Kesme Ceremonies in Çorum

The book 2006 Yılında Çorum’da Yaşayan Geleneksel Kutlamalar (Traditional Celebrations Living in Çorum in 2006), published by the Turkish Folklore Society of Hitit University, holds two records connected with animal husbandry: Koç Katımı (the ram-joining, when rams are let into the flock of ewes) from Osmaniye, a village attached to Çorum centre, and At Kesme (horse slaughter) from Obruk, a village of Dodurga. The book places Koç Katımı among the “Celebrations held in autumn” and At Kesme among the “Celebrations held in summer”. The Koç Katımı record was collected on 16 April 2006 from an informant born in Osmaniye; no date is given for the At Kesme record. What follows is based on these two records.

Koç Katımı: time, place and ceremony

According to the record, the Koç Katımı ceremony in Osmaniye is held every year on dates varying between 1 October and 20 November, at the Kıranbaşı locality within which the village lies. The record says that for the people of Osmaniye Koç Katımı expresses unity and togetherness, mutual help and solidarity. On the day everyone gathers at the threshing floor, drums are beaten, the rams are dyed with henna and entertainments are held; those without a ram add their ewes to other flocks, and so people help one another. The photographs section of the book includes a picture of a ram hennaed for Koç Katımı in Osmaniye (Geleneksel Kutlamalar, pp. 52, 71).

The book’s explanation: why it is done

Besides the village practice, the record contains general explanations of Koç Katımı. According to these, the custom rests on the wish to control the lambing season: in flock husbandry the young, numerous and economically important, cannot withstand cold and hunger in harsh winter months. According to the book, the main aim of Koç Katımı is to obtain a stronger line of sheep with breeding rams and to solve the feeding problem of the lambs to be born; the lambing of ewes mated in autumn is shifted past the coldest part of winter, so that the lambs are born with the fresh grass and do not perish from hunger and cold. The ceremony also serves solidarity by helping those with few sheep or no ram.

The book writes that games played to drum and zurna (shawm), rams decorated and dyed, the merrymaking of participants and children, and the prayers recited give Koç Katımı a holiday atmosphere. According to the book, many practices linked to life passages such as birth and marriage have counterparts in Koç Katımı: the drum and zurna played on the first day, the decorating and dyeing of the rams like a bridegroom (the record says this recalls henna) and the celebrations held that day all recall weddings (Geleneksel Kutlamalar, pp. 52-53).

Beliefs and the decoration of the rams

The record describes the following beliefs and practices connected with the joining:

• Before they join the flock, rams and billy goats are specially decorated: apples are fixed on their horns, their fleece is dyed with earth ochre in reds and near-greens, and coloured beads are hung on their necks. Amulets and charms against the evil eye are also used in the decoration.
• It is believed that if a boy is seated on the ram’s back before the joining a male lamb will be born, and if a girl, a female lamb. Before taking the ram to the fold, the flock owner seats a boy or a girl on its back according to the sex of the lambs wanted, leads it there and lets it in among the ewes.
• After the joining the shepherd must take a full ablution; if he walks among the flock without washing, it is believed the lambs will be born crippled.
• It is believed that if someone walks among the flock that day carrying an empty vessel, the ewes about to lamb will have little milk.

According to the book, the reason for such practices is the belief that the fertility of the rams and ewes could be blunted by harmful outside influences and the evil eye, which would endanger the animals that are people’s livelihood (Geleneksel Kutlamalar, pp. 52-53).

At Kesme: Obruk village, Dodurga

The At Kesme record was collected in Obruk village in Dodurga from an informant born in the same village who makes a living from farming. According to the record, At Kesme ceremonies are held in the village every year in April or May. To protect their animals, such as chickens, goats, sheep, oxen and cows, from wild animals like jackals and wolves, the villagers, who live from farming and stock-raising, slaughter an old or sick horse and leave it on the hill of the village. Prayers are said and vows made to earn religious merit; the tomb where the sacrifices are made is visited and strips of cloth or rag are tied to the tree there. The sacrificed animals are eaten at a large spread by those who come to the tomb. The record does not name the tomb; the photographs section of the book includes a picture of a “wish tree” from Obruk village (Geleneksel Kutlamalar, pp. 50, 71). For the village’s registered mosque see Obruk Village Mosque.

The book’s rain-prayer records also include a practice involving a horse: in Hüsam Dede Tekke village in Dodurga, a horse’s head with a prayer written on its forehead is soaked and buried in the river. For that record see Rain Prayer (İstiska) Traditions in Çorum.

Notes

The book gives the records in the informants’ words. In the Koç Katımı record the village account and general explanations of the custom are interwoven; on this page they are summarised under separate headings. For other records in the same book see Aşure Day, Muharrem and Gadir-i Hum Customs in Çorum, Koyun Baba Commemoration and Pilaf Day in Osmancık, Tepreş Festivities in Sungurlu and Çiğdem Day and Çiğdem Aşı in Çorum.

Sources

• M. Öcal Oğuz and Tuğçe Işıkhan (eds.), 2006 Yılında Çorum’da Yaşayan Geleneksel Kutlamalar, Hitit Üniversitesi Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi Türk Halkbilimi Topluluğu Yayınları: 6, Ankara 2006, pp. 50 (At Kesme), 52-53 (Koç Katımı), 71 (photographs). https://hacibayram.edu.tr/api/files/1/Hac%C4%B1bayram%20AHBV/thbmer(tr-TR)/GELENEKSEL%20KUTLAMALAR.pdf